Arrangements

I made this simple arrangement of What’s the Matter with the Mill years ago for <a href=”http://kennethrainey.com/writing/my-wildly-unsuccessful-book/”>my tunebook</a>, based on a Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys recording from a September 29, 1936, session in Chicago. Coincidentally, that same session produced Wills’ first recording of the Western Swing standard Steel Guitar Rag. The tune is a…

I made this simple arrangement of Wish I’d Stayed in the Wagon Yard years ago for my tunebook, based on Lowe Stokes’ recording from a November 1st, 1929, session in Atlanta, released as Columbia 15557-D. Stokes’ recording is the only version listed under the title ‘Wish I’d Stayed in the Wagon Yard’ in Tony Russell’s comprehensive…

I made this simple arrangement of Walking Boss years ago for my tunebook, based on recordings by Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley. I’m not aware of any recordings that precede the Clarence Ashley recording (ca 1960). It has since been performed by artists including Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, Mike Seeger, and Meat Puppets.

This arrangement of Wabash Blues is mostly based on Milton Brown’s recording, cut on January 27th, 1935 in Chicago. The tune has also been recorded by other notable artists such as Roy Acuff and the Delmore Brothers. The song is a straightforward pop tune by Fred Meinken, with a nice harmonic surprise in the form…

I made this arrangement of Oozlin’ Daddy Blues for my tunebook, based mostly on recordings by Bill Cox and Bob Wills. The song is a simple smutty ditty, bearing more than a passing resemblance to Lonesome Jailhouse Blues and several other tunes. The Cox performance features a short yodeled section at the end of each…

Here’s a simple two-mandolin arrangement of the warhorse fiddle tune Liberty. With the exception of the pickup to the ‘A’ strain, both the melody and harmony parts can be played entirely in first position. You can hear the arrangement via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post.

A gentleman wrote me to ask if I had tablature for the mandolin part I played for Big Sciota on the Morning Glory Waltz LP. I sketched out this chart of the first chorus for him. This portion of the tune can all be played in first position. The second chorus (not notated here) goes…

Don Stiernberg encouraged me to put this two-mandolin arrangement of President Garfield’s Hornpipe together, and offered some helpful tips on how it could be improved. It’s a fairly straightforward arrangement — one instrument takes the fiddle tune melody, the other plays a high harmony line above the melody. There are two versions of the score here:…